Three British soldiers died and 12 were injured in Afghanistan yesterday as clashes with the Taliban continued in Helmand province in the south.

Two of the soldiers were killed in separate incidents in Helmand, while the third soldier died of injuries sustained during fighting last Friday, in a clash which also claimed the life of Ranger Draiva Anare, 27, from the Royal Irish Rangers, the Ministry of Defence said.

One of the soldiers killed yesterday died when his vehicle hit a landmine after a patrol strayed on to a unmarked minefield. Five others were described as "very seriously" wounded.

The other soldier killed yesterday died during a separate clash with Taliban fighters in Helmand, during which four soldiers were injured, one seriously. Another two soldiers were injured in a separate clash with the Taliban in the same province. The three dead men will not be named until next of kin have been informed, the MoD said.

The incidents came in a bad week for the military in Afghanistan and Iraq. Eighteen British armed forces personnel have been killed in Afghanistan this week, and 27 since August 1. They include a soldier killed by a suicide bomber in Kabul on Monday and 14 in Saturday's crash of a Nimrod reconnaissance plane.

A British soldier killed by a roadside bomb north of Basra in southern Iraq on Monday was named yesterday as Gunner Samuela Vanua, 27, a Fijian, of the Royal Artillery. Gunner Stephen Wright, 20, was also killed in the blast as they were returning to base in a Land Rover.